Western response Russia's invasion of Crimea The year 2014 came under renewed scrutiny this week – as outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg insisted the war in Ukraine might not have happened if the US and NATO had responded more strongly to this incursion.
“If we had delivered a fraction of the weapons we did after 2022, we probably could have avoided war,” he said in an interview. Political.
Stoltenberg, a Norwegian politician, led NATO from 2014 until last week.
President Biden Said expressed a similar sentiment.
“They were made in 2014,” Biden said, according to Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward’s upcoming book “War,” obtained by Fox News Digital.
“They were made in 2014,” Biden said, according to Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward’s upcoming book “War,” obtained by Fox News Digital. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“That’s why we came here,” said the 81-year-old. “We accept it. Barack never took (Russian President Vladimir) Putin seriously.”
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“We didn’t do anything. We gave Putin permission to continue!” The president took a step forward. “Well, I’m revoking his license!”
In 2014, the Kremlin annexed the Crimean peninsula after a so-called coup d'état, when Ukrainians deposed President Viktor Yanukovych, a friend of Moscow. It was a quick and bloodless takeover. Russia has flooded the region with migrants and blocked Ukraine's efforts to reclaim it.
The Obama administration supplied defensive weapons to Ukraine, sanctioned the Kremlin and expelled Russia from the G-8, but some, including even Obama's then-vice president Biden, believe he should have done more.
It happened at a time when Russia invaded the Ukrainian region of Donbass and shot down a Malaysia Airlines flight with almost 300 passengers on board.
He stopped supplying Ukraine with lethal weapons. As president, Donald Trump approved a plan that reversed Obama's policy Ukraine sells Javelin missiles for $47 million.
“If we had delivered a fraction of the weapons we delivered after 2022 (in 2014), we could have actually avoided war,” said outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg in an interview with Politico. (Omar Havana/Getty Images)
In a 2014 interview with The Atlantic, Obama said he saw no benefit to the United States in getting involved in events unfolding in Europe related to Russia and Ukraine.
“The reality is that Ukraine, which is not a NATO country, will be vulnerable to Russian military hegemony no matter what we do,” Obama said. “This is an example where we have to be very clear about what our fundamental interests are and why we are willing to go to war.”
In 2012, Obama downplayed the Russian threat during a debate with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Romney emphasized that Russia is America's greatest geopolitical enemy.
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“The 1980s call for a rollback in your foreign policy, now that the Cold War has been over for 20 years,” Obama exclaimed at the time.
He also tasked his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, with a “reset” of US-Russian relations, dismantling President George W. Bush's plan to build an anti-missile shield in Eastern Europe, which Russia viewed as a direct military threat. Putin called the decision “correct and courageous.”
Obama defended his 2014 policy in a 2023 interview with CNN's Christian Amanpour.
“We didn’t do anything,” President Biden said. “We gave Putin a license to continue… well, I’m revoking his license!” (Gavrill Grigorov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
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“The Ukraine then was not the Ukraine we talk about today,” Obama said. “There is a reason there was not an armed invasion of Crimea, because Crimea had many Russian speakers and some sympathy for the views that Russia represented.”
The United States has offered nearly $175 billion in security assistance and financial aid since the start of the war in 2022.
Earlier this week, Ukraine struck a major oil terminal off the coast of Russian-controlled Crimea, in the latest wave of attacks on Russian-controlled energy facilities.
